The Rheinmetall-Borsig design was formally adopted into Luftwaffe service as the "Fallschirmjagergewehr 42", abbreviated as "FG42" and sometimes recognized as "FjG42"). By this time, Germany was at war across multiple fronts and its conventional use of airborne troops had changed considerably since the costly Crete operation. Additionally, production facilities were ultimately under the influence of the German Army and little effort was done to ensure the FG42 was available in proper numbers, let alone fully developed in the field. Add to this the fact that, as was the case with other weapons of select German engineering, the FG42 was a complicated and expensive system to produce in the numbers required - death knells for any weapon during wartime. Production of the FG42 was undertaken regardless, though ultimate figures proved extremely limited - perhaps as little as 7,000 or as many as 9,000 units were produced before the end of the war in 1945.
In practice, the weapon was well-received by its few users and, as a small arm, it was of excellent quality and reliability. If the design held any limitations, it was primarily the side-mounted magazine which held the propensity to snag in the heat of battle and its awkward positioning about the frame made for an unbalanced weapon when under full automatic fire. The use of the full-power, full sized 7.92mm cartridge also made for a difficult weapon to aim with any level of accuracy when under full automatic fire. The magazine only held 20 rounds which limited the long term tactical usefulness of the weapon as a sustained fire system. The bipod proved too light in its construction and prone to bending in the heat of battle. Add to all this the haste in which the FG42 was shipped and various teething issues soon arose that were never entirely ironed out.
Regardless, the Luftwaffe took on initial stocks of FG42s wholeheartedly and, within short order, requested greater numbers. Its first notable use came in September 1943 during the successful commando-style raid by German paratroopers to rescue former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Aside from this brazen exploit, the German paratrooper had seen his days in World War 2 for they were increasingly utilized as traditional infantry into 1945.
Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik was eventually brought into the fold to increase production levels. An effort was undertaken to simplify the original FG42 design by enacting several key changes. The steel "fish tail" buttstock was dropped in favor of an all-wooden form of more conventional (and simpler) shape. A plastic or laminated wood handguard replaced the original perforated metal heat shields then in sue while the "pepper-pot" muzzle attachment was substituted with a finned slotted design. The bipod was relocated to the muzzle away from the frame and, perhaps the most notable of the changes, the angled pistol grip was replaced by a more vertical, "relaxed" design.
The revised FG42 brought about a slightly longer overall design at 41.7 inches, the barrel now measuring 20.6 inches in length. Cyclic rate-of-fire dropped to 750 rounds per minute while the 2,400 feet per second muzzle velocity of the 7.92mm bullet was retained.
Despite the measures to make the FG42 a more production-friendly weapon, the initiative failed to achieve the desired goal of elevated manufacture numbers. Between the two designs, it is estimated that the original FG42 was produced in 2,000 examples with the revised FG42 appearing in some 7,000 examples by war's end. The type was encountered in greater numbers in the West Front which led many observers there to erroneously believe that the FG42 was in wide scale service at the time. Stocks of the weapon ultimately fell to these advancing Allied forces from 1944 onwards and the truth of its limited reach soon unfolded.
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